Mindful Bartending PT 4

Intuition

Have you ever served a drink to someone who you thought you probably shouldn’t serve? If so, did you later wish that you hadn’t served that person?

Have you ever walked into a room where two people have been arguing, and although they stopped as soon as you walked through the door, you could “feel” the argument in the air?

Have you ever experienced a feeling that made you think someone was watching you, and when you turned around you were right—someone was staring at you from a distance?

These are three fairly simple examples of intuition, and most people have experienced at least one of these situations. The vibrations in the air in those instances are very real, although we have no way of measuring them scientifically as yet. And everything we think and do creates similar vibrations. We can train ourselves to tune into even the most subtle of these vibrations, and when we do that, we are making the most out of our intuition.

Once you begin to trust your intuition, your intuition grows and you become even more intuitive.

Some people think of intuition as being a “gut reaction” to a situation. And that’s fine, too. It doesn’t matter what name you give to it. What matters is that you pay attention to it. Your intuition will help you make the right decisions at some crucial times when you are behind the bar. Just ask yourself, “does this feel like the right thing to do?” and react accordingly.

And, of course, you can use your intuition when you aren’t behind the bar, too. If you do this there’s a good chance that you’ll have far fewer instances of “I wish I hadn’t done/said that” in your life, and thus, you’ll be a little happier. Can’t be much wrong with that, right?

This is the fourth in a regular series of articles on Mindful Bartending.

Gary Regan is the author of The Joy of Mixology, gaz regan’s Annual Manual for Bartenders, and many other bartender-related books and newsletters. You can find him at www.gazregan.com.